Invited Speakers

Professor Sir John Burn

Professor Sir John Burn obtained an MD with distinction, a first class honours degree in human genetics from Newcastle University, where he has been Professor of Clinical Genetics since 1991 and a consultant specialist since 1984.

He led the regional NHS Genetics Service for 20 years and helped to create the Centre for Life which houses an education and science centre alongside the Institute of Genetic Medicine and Northgene Ltd, the identity testing company he launched in 1995.

He chairs DNA device company QuantuMDx.

He was knighted in 2010, chosen as one of the first 20 'local heroes' to have a brass plaque on Newcastle Quayside in 2014.

He received the Living North award in 2015 for services to the North East 2000 – 2015. He is also Executive Chairman of the international organisation, the Human Variome Project, which seeks to share knowledge of genetic variation for clinical benefit. In 2017, John became Chairman of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Dr Evelien Dekker

Professor Dr Evelien Dekker is a board-qualified gastroenterologist at the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology of the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam. She graduated from the same university, and obtained her PhD in 1996 at the same university. She received her training in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at the Academic Medical Centre. Dr Dekker joined the AMC-staff in 2005 and is head of the multidisciplinary clinic for hereditary colorectal cancer and medical director of an expert colonoscopy centre at the AMC. She is actively involved in the national screening program for colorectal cancer since more than 10 years, for which she has been awarded a honourable "Pearl" by ZonMW.

Her research focuses on quality and new techniques in colonoscopy, population screening and surveillance for colorectal cancer, and treatment and surveillance of familial cancer and polyposis syndromes. She was appointed as a professor in GI Oncology at the University of Amsterdam in 2013, and has supervised 25 students for a PhD-thesis. She has co-authored over 250 scientific articles and has chaired and participated in several national and international guidelines.

Dr Michael Hall

Dr Michael Hall is the Interim Chair of the Department of Clinical Genetics at Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC), Philadelphia PA and is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the FCCC gastrointestinal oncology and cancer prevention and control programs. He is a trained health services researcher and clinical cancer geneticist.

He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Columbia University in New York City.

He went on to complete an internal medicine residency at Harvard's Brigham and Women's hospital and a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago where he established a clinical and research focus in GI cancers and genetic risk and earned a Master's degree in health services research.

His current research includes the study of patient attitudes and preferences toward hereditary risk assessment and testing, novel methods to communicate of high risk information within families, and collaborative research in gene discovery and large testing database analyses. He is the recipient of individual and collaborative research funding from the Chemotherapy Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the National Cancer Institute.

Professor Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz, MD

Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz is Professor of Molecular Oncology and Medical Director of the Department of Applied Tumor Biology, Institute of Pathology of the University of Heidelberg. He is also head of the Clinical Cooperation Unit G105 of the German Cancer Research Center and is affiliated with the Molecular Medicine Partner Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

After graduating from medical school in 1984 he spent his post doc in the laboratory of the later Nobel laureate Harald zur Hausen at the German Cancer Research Center. In 2001 he was appointed as Medical Director of the Department of Applied Tumour Biology at the Institute of Pathology, University of Heidelberg.

He coauthored more than 280 peer-reviewed articles. He is associate editor of the International Journal of Cancer and member of the editorial boards of various other prestigious oncology journals.

He received numerous scientific awards and served as founder, advisor and board member of several biotech companies.

Heather Hampel, MS, LGC

Heather Hampel completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Genetics at the Ohio State University in 1993. She attained her Master's degree in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College in 1995. She received certification from the American Board of Genetic Counseling in 1996. She worked as a cancer genetic counselor at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center before moving to The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) in 1997.

Currently, Heather is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Associate Director of the Division of Human Genetics. She is also the Associate Director of Biospecimen Research for the OSUCCC.

She was the study coordinator for the Columbus-area Lynch syndrome study which determined the frequency of Lynch syndrome among newly diagnosed patients with these cancers. This study culminated in first author publications in the New England Journal of Medicine in May of 2005, Cancer Research in August of 2006, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology in December of 2008.

She is now the PI of the Ohio Colorectal Cancer Prevention Initiative which is screening colorectal cancer patients from 50 hospitals throughout the state for hereditary cancer syndromes. The first major publication from that study showing that 16% of early-onset colorectal cancers are hereditary was published in 2017 in JAMA Oncology.

Heather Hampel was the Region IV Representative on the Board of Directors of the Natinoal Society of Genetic Counselors in 2003-4. She was on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Genetic Counseling from 2006-2011, serving as President in 2009 and 2010. She was elected to the Steering Committee member of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable in 2016. She has been on the Council of the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal Cancer since 2016 and is currently the President.